Finding a gaming PC on a budget is a struggle — finding a gaming laptop on a budget, even more so. Today HP is closing out one model in its Victus sub-brand for $649.99, $350 off its regular price. While a 13th-gen Core i5 and an Nvidia RTX 3050 aren’t going to plow through the latest high-end games, it should be able to play the vast majority of titles at medium settings, and you almost never see a gaming laptop with discrete graphics going for this low of a price.
The HP Victus 1550fa-100 (just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) packs a 15.6-inch, 1080p display with an IPS panel, which won’t win any speed awards, but is more color-accurate than your usual gaming display. Other features include 512GB of SSD storage, full backlit keyboard with a number pad, and a roomy 70 watt-hour battery. Ports are generous, with two USB-A, one USB-C, full-sized HDMI for easy connection to an external display, and a full-sized SD card slot.
If this Victus laptop has an Achilles heel, it’s the 8GB of DDR4 RAM, which is pretty skimpy for anything running Windows 11. But based on a quick YouTube search, it looks like both SO-DIMM slots are open on the motherboard, so a few screws is all that separates you from a much-needed RAM upgrade. That’s an option that many laptops — even gaming laptops — no longer have.
I’d go with this $40 upgrade to 16GB, with the same generation and speed (3200MHz). Need some pointers? Here’s our guide on how to install laptop RAM.
HP is offering some customization options for the Victus before you order it — like the same RAM upgrade at double the price. If your budget can stretch a little, I’d recommend the $20 screen upgrade for a 144hz refresh option. There’s also a $100 upgrade to a roomier 1TB SSD, but again, you can install it yourself for a lot less.
Editor’s note: This article was updated after the price dropped an additional $50, making this excellent deal even better.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who's been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.